The bill, S.B. No. 818, proposes the establishment of the Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program under a new Subchapter J in Chapter 38 of the Insurance Code. This program will be managed by the Center for Health Care Data at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and is designed to analyze legislative documents that impose new mandates on health benefit plan issuers or administrators. The program will assess the potential impacts of such legislation on health coverage costs, administrative expenses, and the overall use of health care services in Texas. It will also provide a structured process for legislative leaders to request analyses of proposed legislation, ensuring that the findings are reported within specified timeframes.

To fund the program, the bill authorizes the comptroller to assess an annual fee on health benefit plan issuers, excluding those operating solely as Medicaid managed care organizations. The fee will be adjusted biennially to account for implementation costs and any deficits incurred. Additionally, the bill mandates that the Center for Health Care Data develop a cost estimate for the program's initial expenses and establish the program by January 1, 2026. The comptroller is also required to adopt rules for administering the fee by the same date. The bill is set to take effect immediately upon receiving a two-thirds vote from both houses of the legislature or on September 1, 2025, if that threshold is not met.

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